Conqs sweep Jayhawk West series over Cloud County

Monday

Apr 1, 2013 at 7:41 PMApr 1, 2013 at 7:45 PM

Conquistadors baseball has won last 10 league games to lead division.

By John CurtisDodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City Conquistadors celebrated Easter by scraping out a second four-game Jayhawk West series sweep over the Cloud County Thunderbirds.The Conquistadors overcame seven errors to win the first game of Sunday's doubleheader over the T-Birds 5-4; then used 11 innings to beat Cloud in the nightcap 3-2.The Conquistadors (25-13, 14-6) have won 10 straight conference games and now are a game ahead of Seward County in the league standings. Dodge City is also one of only two teams in the Jayhawk West that are over .500 overall on the season."The biggest thing is that you take it game-by-game," said Dodge City baseball head coach Phil Stephenson. "We have shown that our guys can pitch and keep us in ballgames, then we can get the timely hits when we need them."Everybody has been contributing and that has been the best part. With the type of team we have, that's how it's got to be; everybody has to continue to contribute for us to succeed."The Conqs gave up four runs in the bottom of the first of the opener, helping their opponents with three Dodge City errors and a RBI single by Chase Reibenspies.Dodge City answered with all five of their runs in the top of the second. Julian Moroyoqui knocked in three runs with a double and Chris Ramsey and Haden Houska had RBI singles.Jagger Harjo threw a seven-inning complete game, giving up three hits and only one of the four runs were earned. Harjo walked one and struck out three."Harjo was awesome after the first inning," Stephenson said. "We kicked it all over the place in the first inning, and then he pitched around jams later in the game we had put him in because of errors."The nightcap saw the Conqs put up runs in the first and fifth innings. Houska opened the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Connor Ross. Houska knocked in a run in the top of the fifth on a single.Cloud County (14-18, 5-11) tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with RBI singles by Tanner Palmore and Austin White off Conqs' starting pitcher Walker Rainwater.Neither team could get on the board as the game went into extra innings after nine couldn't settle the game. Dodge City got the game-winning run in the top of the 11th shane Shay Lynes got on base due to an error, stole second and scored on a double by Jerry Lacayo.Cloud County tried to come back and had the tying run at third base, but reliever Giles Fox was able to induce an infield fly to end the game.Fox pitched three innings to get his third winning decision in eight days. The left-hander gave up three hits and a walk while striking out two. Rainwater threw 5 2/3 innings and gave up eight hits, three runs and both Cloud runs while striking out two. Bedwell pitched 2 1/3 innings and gave up five hits during his time on the mound."Rainwater battled out of some jams and so did Bedwell and Fox," Stephenson said. "We've had great pitches at the right time and the ball gets hit right at people. Those are the things that happen when you'll on a roll. You find the little things to win the game. They left 17 guys in the second game and that attributes to great pitching and great defense."The Conqs are scheduled to play at Borger, Texas, for a single game against Frank Phillips before returning to Jayhawk West action against Butler in another four-game series with Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders starting at 1:05 p.m. at Cavalier Field.